Lee Clarke, a sociologist at Rutgers University, is author of "Mission
Improbable", from the University of Chicago Press. He is
an internationally known expert in disasters, and organizational
and technological failures. Examples are the bioterrorism, the World
Trade Center disaster, and airline accidents.

He has written about the Y2K problem, risk communication, panic,
civil defense, evacuation, community response to disaster, organizational
failure, near
earth objects, and is currently writing a book about the idea
of worst cases. Specific examples of writing include work on Three
Mile Island, large oil spills, and contingency planning for many
types of calamities. Dr. Clarke has written for, or been featured
in, the Atlantic Monthly, Boston Globe, National
Public Radio, and the Washington Post, the NY Daily News, among
others.

His current projects include work on the idea
of worst cases. Worst cases are instances of
calamity that are beyond imagination. Historical
examples are the Hindenburg disaster or the
Black Death. More recent examples are Chernobyl
and the explosion of TWA 800 after taking off
from JFK airport. The World Trade Center attack
is one of the worst things that's ever happened
to American society.

Clarke is also currently writing about the problem of panic, leadership
and terrorism, and risk communication. Research shows that people
hardly ever panic when we would most expect them to--in the midst
of life threatening circumstances such as burning theaters or large
scale disasters.